Energy and Natural Resources is one of the fastest growing sectors of the economy and as it continues to grow so too does the need for qualified lawyers in the UK and abroad to work in the area.
There is now a significant demand from both students and the legal market to develop new programmes in this emerging field which covers the oil, gas, nuclear, mining and renewable and sustainable energy industries.
Queen Mary, University of London, is one of the first HE institutes in England to run an LLM in Energy and Natural Resources Law. There are currently a few similar programmes in Scotland and small number in Europe, but it remains relatively uncommon.
Professor Loukas Mistelis, Director of the School of International Arbitration at Queen Mary’s Centre for Commercial Law Studies (CCLS), said: "Energy and Natural Resources are two of the most thriving sectors of the economy and they have brought about major regulatory and transactional challenges. This area is complicated, where detailed knowledge of the relevant legal issues affecting the energy sector needs to be allied to an acute understanding of the commercial challenges.
“Queen Mary’s CCLS is well placed to develop this new specialism as we have a number of academics who are experts in this field. This programme will enable our students to develop the core skills required to advise domestic and international energy and utility companies operating in this highly regulated industry and builds up on the very well established areas at QM, such as Commercial Law, Dispute Resolution, Environmental Law and Regulation and also creates the foundations for knowledge creation and dissemination for an additional teaching and research centre of excellence.
“We will be looking at Energy from a comparative, international and inter-disciplinary perspective focusing on both regulatory and transactional matters. This is a very exciting and pioneering venture at Queen Mary."
The new CCLS led LLM specialism programme in Energy and Natural Resources Law runs from September 2013 and applications are being accepted now. Professor Malgosia Fitzmaurice, who specialises in international environmental law and holds a chair of public international law at QM, will be one of the experts contributing to the new course.
For more information email LLMadmin@qmul.ac.uk or telephone +44 (0) 20 7 882 8092.
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